To my local PTA, yes, but they don’t do anything meaningful related to actual school activities, just fun community things. I am very interested in what “call” was put out to parents since I clearly missed it. |
Have you reached out to your PTA and let them know they should send out info to the entire school community as everyone might not make the meeting? Have you considered running for your PTA’s be or to be the Delegate? Have you reached out to your schools Gifted Liaison (every ES and MS) is supposed to have one? The BOE was pretty upset about the amount of n parents and diversity of those who were included in the eval for Secondary ELA curriculum. Maybe reach out to you district representatives and let them know what ways Central and PTAs can use to reach more people |
Here are the e-lists that local persons may subscribe to: o cultural-arts@mccpta.groups.io o curriculum@mccpta.groups.io o delegates@mccpta.groups.io o diversity-equity-inclusion@mccpta.groups.io o esol@mccpta.groups.io o gifted-child@mccpta.groups.io o green-schools@mccpta.groups.io o health-and-safety@mccpta.groups.io o membership@mccpta.groups.io o presidents@mccpta.groups.io o reflections@mccpta.groups.io o safe-routes@mccpta.groups.io o safe-tech@mccpta.groups.io o secretaries@mccpta.groups.io o special-education@mccpta.groups.io o substance-use-prevention@mccpta.groups.io o sustainability@mccpta.groups.io o treasurers@mccpta.groups.io |
Thank you I signed up for the gifted listserve, so maybe that will be helpful. Our PTA meetings have very detailed minutes but they usually just recap the events that happened and are upcoming and go through the budget. What is a gifted liaison? Is that a PTA position or through the school? |
I just checked the MCCPTA gifted Facebook group and there is nothing like this. No real discussion of ELC at all since 2023. |
Then it sounds like a fantastic way for you to volunteer and get involved! I will guarantee you this — complaining here will get you nowhere. |
Each PTA is supposed to have a gifted liaison (or two) to serve as a resource for the school community. |
This is the link to the gifted group: https://mccpta.groups.io/g/gifted-education
I think the gifted child group someone linked to above is an old one. That’s not the name of the committee anymore. |
Yes but that is going to be PTA dependent. There is ( or should be) a school designated Gifted Specialist. |
Your link is to the wrong curriculum, MCPS is using Amplify CKLA which is here: https://amplify.com/programs/amplify-core-knowledge-language-arts/whats-included-3-5/ 4th grade does House on Mango Street and 5th grade does Don Quixote. Not enough fiction, I agree, but there is some there. |
The liaison is usually the AP, but for ELA I would turn to the reading specialist first. |
I think the elimination of ELC came as a surprise to everyone, including the MCCPTA gifted committee, who had pushed very hard to get ELC rolled out in every single ES in the county.
I do think a new group of parents need to step up and start advocating on this issue. It wouldn't even be that hard because offering ELC should be cost neutral - you have the same number of teachers and students, you just cohort the highly able learners for reading in 4th and 5th grades. |
I doubt you have kids in MCPS. |
I was one of the people who previously sent an email to our principal urging to roll out of ELC at our elementary school. I would like to ask the parents whose children have attended ELC for the past years: Has ELC truly been beneficial for gifted children who were not placed CES? While I'm uncertain about other aspects, the MAP-R test, which is a measurable data point, my child's score decreased after the 3rd grade spring test and did not improve throughout 4th and 5th grades. It only went back up in the final 5th grade spring test. So I wouldn't feel any regret even if my other younger child does not take ELC classes in the future. Furthermore, I have been satisfied with the CKLA curriculum I've seen so far, and the material for 4th and 5th grades appears sufficiently challenging. As long as they offer separate advanced level classes using CKLA, I'm fine with it. |
Agre with this. It is the cohorting that matters. I actually don't think ELC material was great. MCPS came up with it on its own--we know they are not good curriculum writers. Using CKLA and moving at a faster pace to cover more content in a cohorted class sounds better to me. |